Each season of ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ brings new drama and with the new drama comes the constant chatter of who will stay, who will go and how far Bravo will go to keep its sole original cast member Nene Leakes.
Well now after reportedly becoming the highest paid housewife over at Bravo, the company has now given her yet another raise to ensure she returns despite her constantly declaring she probably will not. Via RadarOnline:
It pays to be NeNe Leakes! After a miserable season on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Leakes wanted nothing to do with the hit reality show. RadarOnline.com has learned that Bravo sweetened the pot to ensure her return, giving her not only a spinoff, but a hefty RHOA pay raise too!
Leakes announced her new reality show with Kim Zolciak, called NeNe And Kim: The Road To Riches last week, and a source revealed what the behind-the-scenes negotiations were.
“NeNe absolutely hated Housewives this season. She hated almost all of the other women and wanted off the show entirely,” the source told Radar.
“But she is the most valuable person in the entire franchise and Bravo was going to do whatever she wanted to keep her. So they offered her the spin-off, which she gladly took,” said the source.
This season of RHOA Leakes hardly ever promoted the show other than when she took to her Bravo blog to trash her cast mates and producers for what she suggests are their usual ‘Bring Nene Down’ antics. Despite that the producers want to keep Nene around.
“They want NeNe and so they offered her a HUGE raise. She already makes the most and now they’re giving her even more money per episode and her bonuses will be bigger too,” the source claimed.
Leakes was already making a whopping $1.5 million for this season and she made sure she leveraged her unhappiness for her upcoming shows.
“NeNe is a really smart business woman,” the source said.
“She even got Bravo to pay her more than they’re paying Kim on the new show. NeNe knows she is the one people want to see and so she’s going to make Bravo pay up to keep her around.”
Check out an exclusive first look at the next episode where Nene and Claudia go for a round 2!
